An audit released this week confirmed what many already suspected: That consultants were running somewhat amok through the Los Angeles Unified School District’s publicly funded,

$20 billion building program.

The audit by Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel is significant in two ways: First, it indicates that since those bad years of 2002-2006, the district started to get organized about how it used and oversaw consultants, and second, it was the first time that the traditionally secretive school district allowed the city to look at its books.

The audit itself wasn’t groundbreaking. It merely confirmed allegations that there were many conflicts of interest in the early years of the building department. It also identified four clear cases in which a facilities manager stood to benefit financially from hiring a specific consultant.

But that the audit even happened is significant. Controller Wendy Greuel calls it historic. She’s right.

It was Superintendent Ramon Cortines who requested the audit last spring after Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley indicted senior facilities executive Bassam Raslan on nine conflict-of-interest charges. (Raslan has pleaded not guilty to charges of using his district position to hire employees from a company he also runs.)

Cortines’ decision to reach out to Greuel signaled a rare openness as the district tries to purge a problematic department that grew very quickly after voters approved billions of dollars to build schools.

Since the LAUSD hadn’t built any new schools in decades and because the rules and requirements of building schools are very complicated, the district was forced to hire hundreds of consultants in a short period of time. In all, the district has hired more than 1,000 consultants to work in its facilities department since the first bond was approved 13 years ago.

“It appears that the LAUSD under its current leadership has made significant progress in reforming the process for awarding construction projects,” Greuel said. “The district still has room for improvement, but they appear to be on the right path.”

LAUSD still has a long way to go to be free of its troubled past. But if this audit is an indication of the district’s dedication to openness, the way there won’t be as long or bumpy as we might have expected.